


The Co-Pilot

by mantisbelle



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Developing Friendships, Emotional Baggage, Gen, Mild Spoilers for 15x16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 20:05:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11539485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantisbelle/pseuds/mantisbelle
Summary: Getting used to being around people was strange. Getting used to being around someone that didn't seem to completely loathe him was even stranger. Dexter Grif may have been one of the strangest people he'd ever met, and that was ultimately a good thing.





	The Co-Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt that ran a little bit long, and I figure I might as well break the seal on another fandom anyways. I also really like it so I wanted to give it a little more permanent/reliable home. 
> 
> Hopefully you all enjoy it, and thank you for reading!
> 
> Prompt: "Anonymous asked: “just… come back alive, okay?” for Grif and Locus?"

Locus had been careful in landing the ship, coercively named the “Locus Pocus” (much to his own displeasure) and was immediately doing everything he could to run over the situation that he and his new…  _partners_ had found themselves in.

The robot, no,  _Lopez_ , he reminded himself, had been rather clear with the information that he’d given,  or at least as clear as one could expect from one of the Reds and Blues. Regardless, they’d survived a lot and Locus had no reasons to doubt him.

As he understood the situation, they were in for a fight, there were two missing freelancers, the reds and blues had been captured, and the base was underwater. Apparently there had been an attempt at a resistance and the Red’s sargeant, no, Colonel had placed his loyalty with their captors, which had not at all been conveniently named the Blues and Reds.

(Locus tried not to think about how the prospect of seeing Agent Washington face to face made his heart pound a little harder. Whether it came from fear, anxiety, or something else entirely wasn’t something to dwell on. Too dangerous. Too unpredictable.)

As things stood, Locus had the bodiless Lopez and Grif for help. And Grif was…

Well, he’d begun to calm down at the very least. Locus could at least take some small comfort in the fact that the man had finally allowed himself to slow down, especially considering that they were in the ship’s armory trying to prepare for whatever was ahead.

“You understand the plan?” Locus asked, picking up a shotgun and weighing it in his hands. If they got caught in close quarters, then he would. Behind the comforting shield of his helmet, Locus grimaced and set the gun back down. “Or do I need to go over it again?”

“I get the plan.” Grif said, shifting nervously, more like he had too much pent up energy. Considering what Locus knew about the man before, that seemed wrong, but a lot had changed over the last ten months it seemed. Locus knew he was in no place to judge anyone at that point considering… “You really think this can work?”

“I do.” Locus said calmly. “You have bullets?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.” Grif replied. “I just want to go in and save my friends, and then we can get out of here, and, oh, can we stop at Sammy’s Pizza? I can’t stop thinking about it-”

“Focus.” Locus sighed the word out, checking his rifle. Don’t think about it. Don’t focus on it. It’s just a name, it doesn’t mean anything,  _he doesn’t know_. “We need to focus on completing the objective.”

“Dude, just call it what it is.” Grif said, all too relaxed. Locus practically felt himself freeze, like a gun locking up mid-fire. “It’s a rescue.”

“Rescue.” Locus repeated, if only because he knew Grif was right. “We’ll do the  loop of their base as many times as we can for reconnaisance. You’ll create a diversion when we think we’ve found something and I’ll-’

Grif was staring him down from behind his helmet, and Locus paused, wanting to shrink behind his own or activate his cloaking. Staring. Locus still hated when people stared. “We’re going to be fine.” Grif said, sounding too confident. “I mean, doing the right thing does suck, but I’m used to playing things by ears. Besides, I survived you and Felix-”

Locus tried hard not to shoot the man a glare for that. It wasn’t worth commenting on, not when Locus knew what he’d done. “Right.” He mumbled. “I just need to know that…”

“Look, we’re going to go in, kick those guys asses, and then we’ll save everyone and I’ll get to tell them and-” Grif was beginning to ramble again, and Locus was ready to begin drowning him out mentally. It was just like Felix in a way, but Locus didn’t think that Grif was capable of the same things that Felix was. Grif was too genuine, and as an aside, he doubted that Grif was doing it specifically to annoy him. He’d been alone for a while, it seemed. “I dunno, we’ll figure it out after.”

Locus could understand being alone. He probably knew it better than anyone else.

He let out a sigh that was too quiet to make its way out of his voice filter and stood up straight, turning to Grif. “Are you ready?”

“I am.” Grif said. “Oh, can we use codenames?”

That was an interesting question, Locus thought, but he sighed. “If you want to. Although I prefer to go by my-” He paused. Codename? Name? “The name of my armor.”

“Yeah, you practically live with a codename, right?” Grif said, shifting around nervously again. “I just want to do this.”

“Good.” Locus said, shouldering his rifle and checking his thigh for his sword. Sure enough it was there, waiting for the moment that he needed it. It was almost a relief. “If this goes well, we won’t have any problems.”

“Yeah, so you say that-” Grif said, shifting. “I know it’s weird because you’ve always been a huge dick, but I like being your partner so-”

“So?” Locus raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, and was glad for the shield that the opaque visor provided him against the world.

“We’re splitting up.” Grif said finally. “And I know that you’re used to that but, just… come back alive, okay?”

Locus’ mind jammed again. “You-”

“I don’t want to lose another friend.” Grif said. “And it’s you and me, against the world, turning over some new leafs. Don’t make me do that alone.”

It was an amount of care that Locus wasn’t used to. It was someone reaching out for him in a way that he was never going to be able to get used to. He didn’t mind it all that much, as strange as it was.

“I won’t.” Locus said calmly. “I’ve survived worse than this. And if this goes correctly nobody will be killed. Stick to the plan, and it’ll be fine.”

“Right.” Grif said, shifting again and even hopping slightly. “I’ll stick to the plan. And you’ll come back alive. You better come back alive, I can’t drive The Locus Pocus without you-”

“I’ll come back alive.” Locus said. “I have no intentions of leaving you behind here either.”

“I’m holding you to that, dude.” Grif said, turning and beginning on his way out of the armory. This was the best that he could hope for, Locus thought as he followed after the man and activated his cloaking device. After that, they just had to make it underwater.

And then once everything was said and done, they had to make it out alive. Locus felt more motivation to do that than he had in a very long time. Grif made him feel good, for better or for worse. 

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all comments and criticism are greatly appreciated.
> 
> [I'm on tumblr. Sometimes stuff happens. I'm always willing to take new prompts and questions there!](http://tyrian-callows.tumblr.com/)


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